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Choosing between justice and freedom

For one human rights lawyer in El Salvador, it feels increasingly like the justice system is designed "to convict." Yet he continues to defend even the riskiest cases.

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Salvador Melendez/AP/File
Evelyn Beatriz Hernandez sits in court during her second trial, after her 30-year sentence for murder was overturned in 2019 in San Salvador, El Salvador. Ms. Hernandez was prosecuted under the country’s strict abortion laws.

Several years ago I lost a pregnancy at about 13 weeks. I've thought about that day over the years for all the obvious, sad reasons. But also because of one big "what if": I had initially planned to be in El Salvador on a reporting trip that week. Scores of women have been imprisoned following miscarriages in El Salvador, accused of murder under the country's strict abortion laws. What would I have done if my trip dates hadn't changed? Would I have been able to find a compassionate doctor? 

Fleeing the country, which is likely what I would have done, isn't a privilege most Salvadoran women have. Certainly, it hadn't been on offer for the women defended by Dennis Muñoz, the human rights lawyer profiled in the cover story of the Oct. 23 print edition. Mr. Muñoz has dedicated his career to fighting for lost causes – the cases hardest and often riskiest to defend in El Salvador, whether due to draconian laws or the social or economic standing of his clients. El Salvador’s story of injustice goes far beyond reproductive rights – and Mr. Muñoz’s work underscores that. He told freelance reporter Nelson Rauda Zablah that it feels increasingly like the justice system is designed "to convict."

For more than a year and a half, El Salvador has been under a so-called state of exception. The rule suspends the constitutional rights of anyone arrested, going beyond the gang-related cases it is meant to apply to. But homicide rates have fallen in what was considered, not so long ago, the deadliest country in the world. And many Salvadorans are relieved. There’s a new sense of freedom, in which people can visit family across town, attend school, or run a small business without the risk of extortion or violence at the hands of powerful criminal groups. But now there’s the risk of arrest, which the state of exception says can take place without an explanation from the police.

In theory, one shouldn’t have to choose between justice and freedom, but that's an increasingly common point of tension in Latin America today. Initiatives to crack down on climbing levels of crime and violence frequently clash with the protection of citizen rights. Mr. Muñoz's clients, such as a woman he defended who was pardoned following a miscarriage, praise his relentless approach to fighting for the protection of human rights. I can see the short-term appeal of giving up some rights in return for more freedom, but not everyone has a Mr. Muñoz to defend them.

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